This invention relates to a baler particularly suitable for forming bales of hay or other similar products.
Conventional balers generally comprise a front spring-mounted pick-up roller, which raises the hay from the ground and conveys it along a tubular member, hereinafter indicated by the term "rear tube", inside which the hay or straw is first compressed against a mobile obstacle, and then bound by one or more binding assemblies to form bales, which are discharged in succession through a rear open end of said rear tube.
The aforesaid known balers have certain drawbacks, due mainly to the fact that said binding assemblies are mounted directly on brackets and supports rigid with said rear tube.
A first consequence of this construction is that since the binding assemblies are assembled during their mounting on to said rear tube, the binding assemblies can be tested only when the baler is substantially finished. Moreover, with regard to the rear tube, a relatively high constructional precision is normally required, due to the fact that the support and connection points for a number of mutually cooperating mechanical members constituting the binding assemblies are disposed thereon. Such precision assembly is impossible in the case of a member constituted of welded plate, as in the case of said rear tube, the binding assemblies can be mounted only as the result of long and costly adjustments, which have to be carried out individually on each rear tube, which considerably influences the production cost of the entire baler.
Finally, the structural unity between the binding assemblies and said rear tube considerably complicates any repairs on the binding assemblies, and any necessary replacement of component parts thereof, as these operations automatically mean the baler cannot be used for relatively long periods, and it becomes substantially impossible to fit the same baler with a number of interchangeable binding assemblies using different binding materials, such as twine made from natural or synthetic fibres, and metal wire.